Effects and mechanism of L-Arginine on acute lung injury induced by LPS

Objective: To observe the effects and the mechanisms of L-Arginine protects against acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods: A total of 45 adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups as follows: control group (NS group), model group (LPS group) and L-Arginine pretreatment group (L -Arg group). LPS (6 mg/kg) was infused by tail vein to reproduce ALI in LPS group and L -Arg group. L -Arginine (500 mg/kg) was intraperitoneally injected 0.5 h before LPS in L -Arg group, whereas NS group and LPS group were given equivalent volume normal saline. Five rats in each group were killed at 2, 6 and 24 h, meanwhile lung tissue, arterial blood and serum were collected. The PaO2 and W/D were determined at different point of time; serum were collected to determine TNF-α by ELISA, and real time